LIMITATION & LOCOMOTION (2021) for reed quintet

Instrumentation: oboe, clarinet in Bb, alto saxophone, bass clarinet in Bb, and bassoon

Duration: ~5.5 minutes

Performance/Recording History:

Program Notes:

Composers often say that limitation breeds creativity, and at first, that sounds rather nonsensical. Wouldn’t limitation prevent composers from having full freedom in their music, you might ask? In a sense this is true, but compositional constraints, whether self-imposed or externally imposed, actually force composers to get very creative in order to solve their musical dilemmas. In fact, it’s even said that the stricter the limitations, the more innovative the composer will have to be in order to produce a convincing result.

I decided to take this concept and run with it. While mapping out the form/structure for LIMITATION & LOCOMOTION, I instituted specific constraints in each section. For instance, in one, I allowed myself to use only three pitches, and in another, I allowed myself to use only on-beat rhythms. Needless to say, writing this piece involved a lot of trial and error. At times, I felt like I was in the midst of solving a challenging musical sudoku puzzle.

Where does “locomotion” come into the equation? It was a word that came to mind as I thought about the driving force of much of the musical material in the piece. At many points, the music seems to be propelling itself forward almost mechanically in spite of the limitations I imposed, and that propulsion is something I thought a lot about as I wrote this piece. Also, Limitation & Propulsion just doesn’t have the same ring to it, right? Alliteration is awesome.

LIMITATION & LOCOMOTION was commissioned by Pro Musica Detroit and Detroit Composers Project for the Akropolis Reed Quintet.